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Emanuel Lutheran cookie festival is Saturday

BLACKFOOT — The 20th annual Cookie Festival at the Emanuel Lutheran Church is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The church is at 1110 Parkway Dr. in Blackfoot.
The cookies cost $5 per pound.
Over 5,000 cookies will be on sale.
"No boxes of cookies are pre-packaged," said Margaret Contor. "As people come in, we hand them a box and a glove so they can pick what cookies they would like."
Each box holds about four pounds of cookies.
Cousins Nancy Jackson and Erika Anderson are the co-chair of this year's event. Together with their mothers, Margaret Contor and Kathy Tauscher, the Cookie Festival is a family tradition.
"We don't put off making cookies because we have a time limit," Tauscher said. "I still have three batches left to go."
The Cookie Festival got its start after Bonnie Hatch read an article about a cookie festival. She thought it was a fun idea, Jackson said.
Twenty years later, the tradition continues, including selling Bonnie's eggnog log.
"I make a chocolate mint cookie," said Contor. "It's a chocolate cookie with an Andes mint glaze.
"It's just a fun holiday cookie," she said.
The wide variety of cookies includes raisin-filled cookies, gingerbread and sugar cookies.
"The Cookie Festival is lots of fun," Contor said. "There are lots of really different cookies and lots of different choices.
Gluten-free cookies are set up on a separate table, she said. "People are served the gluten-free cookies to avoid cross-contamination.
"People come year after year," Contor said. "They tell us this is part of their Christmas celebration."
"We try to make really fun Christmas cookies," said Tauscher. "If a cookie doesn't sell well, we don't make it the next year.
Proceeds from the Cookie Festival will go to the Southeastern Idaho Community Action Agency (SEICAA) and other needs in the church.
This year, employees from Walmart are helping to make cookies and serve them as well, said Anderson. It's a participation grant.
This participation grant is part of Walmart's Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP) program. If Walmart employees volunteer 250 community hours to a specific project, corporate headquarters will donate $5,000 to SEICAA.
"It nice to have community participation," said Contor. "We hope people will come out and support us."